Take advantage of spring training baseball

For those of you who are just casual baseball fans, it might be news that spring training games begin this weekend here in Florida and Arizona.

Being a guy who loves to see games at various parks, I encourage fans to take advantage of the games that are often less than two hours away from St. Augustine.

If you haven’t been before, seriously, treat yourself.

I’ve been going to games for years, and I’ll offer a bit of advice to those who haven’t done this before or for those looking to branch out.

If you don’t want to go so far that you feel compelled to stay the night, there are a few good options from here.

The closest spring training sites are in the Orlando area. The Atlanta Braves train at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex. It’s a very nice place that feels just like a miniature major league park.

The Houston Astros are in nearby Kissimmee. It’s an older complex, but it was refurbished a couple years ago. It’s not too large, so virtually every seat is closer than you would normally sit in a big league park.

That’s definitely my favorite.

If you head straight down I-95 for about two hours, you can find the Washington Nationals playing in Viera.

The park there is perfectly fine. It’s a typical modern minor league facility where they play Florida State League (High Class A) games in the summer.

I like it because it’s pretty large and rarely sells out. There could be a little surge in the crowds this year, though, with such stars as Stephen Stasburg, Jayson Werth, Michael Morse, Ryan Zimmerman and the young Bryce Harper now with the club.

In previous years, it hasn’t been too rowdy in Viera, but we’ll see if that changes this season.

The only other park I’ve been to that still hosts games is in Tampa, where the New York Yankees train.

The park holds around 10,000 and is often sold out. I swear, you feel as if you’re in New York as soon as you enter the gates. It’s a lot of fun unless you’re a Red Sox fan.

The other training sites are clustered either in South Florida or around the Tampa/Clearwater area.

I think that’s a little far for a day trip but perfect for a weekend jaunt.Here’s a little advice if you want to go:

First, don’t assume you can just walk up and buy tickets because it’s a practice game. This is especially true of weekend games and any contest involving the Yankees, Red Sox or Phillies.

Don’t assume tickets are cheap, either. Yes, prices are lower than in Boston and New York, but that’s about it. With fees, you won’t get a seat at the Yankees’ George M. Steinbrenner Field for less than $20. Most tickets are priced at more than $30. And that’s face value. Most games I’ve been to there have been sold out.

Be careful when you pick games. If you want to see your favorite team play, go to the home site. When teams travel — even though a lot of the trips are an hour or less — they don’t bring the full roster. Don’t count on seeing Derek Jeter in Dunedin or David Ortiz in Bradenton. The top veterans tend not to play many road games.

Get there early. Although Tampa has a decent traffic setup, some of the spring training sites are in smaller towns without great traffic flow. Plus, some places are not well staffed. I remember sitting for close to an hour trying to get into an Astros-Yankees game in Kissimmee. And you don’t want to miss the first few innings. Most of the starters will be gone by the time the sixth inning begins.